Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:11:11 -0600
Reply-To: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim Felder <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Odometer failed, any advice?
In-Reply-To: <12cf5d6aa9d24bf88c2f75e7a1aa4901.dhanson@gorge.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
It's really easy to get into the speedometer and if it's what I think
it is, it's easy to fix.
Pull the cluster. If you can't do that in less than three minutes,
you haven't done it enough : )
I think you just have to lift the faceplate off by removing the two
tiny screws. Pull the needle off first... if I dont have this part
right, somebody chime in--I'm not pulling mine today just to find
out.... anyway when inside you will probably see the little white
plastic gear has slipped away from the larger gear that drives it.
Just push it back till they touch. I put a drop of superglue next to
mine, just to be safe. Just be supercareful with that superglue. You
could ruin a lot with it in this area.
I've looked and looked for an explanation as to how the two gears
could be coaxed apart by resetting when moving and I can't find it..
Many say there is one, but nobody can actually explain it! Saying you
can't do that reminds me of the airlines that won't let you take a
bike on a plane without flattening the tires first--they don't stop to
think that the difference between the street and outer space is only
fifteen pounds, so what difference could it make? I think it has to do
with how your odometer was made, on the day it was made, with the
parts if was made of. There is a force at work pushing the two gears
apart all the time you are driving.
Jim
On Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 12:29 PM, dhanson@gorge.net <dhanson@gorge.net> wrote:
> As the subject line states, just yesterday after I tried to Zero out the tripmeter on my 84s'
> odometer, it now no longer works. For some time, it's been a little "touchy" when you push in on
> the button to roll the trip meter back to zero...kinda catches and doesn't always move all the
> digits exactly to the right place. With a little 'finessing' I could coax in into functioning until
> now. A few times, it counted off a few tenths and then stalled(the trip meter) but the main odo
> continued to chalk up the miles. With some fiddling, I could get the tripmeter working. Now, neither
> the tripmeter or the main mileage counter (currently reads 295183) moves at all. The speedo still
> works properly. Pushing the Reset Button does not move the mile counters in the slightest anymore.
>
> Is it worthwhile to dig into the speedo and see what broke? Glue something back together? Or
> should I try to find a replacment? I really depend on that tripmeter to keep track of my
> fueling..my gas guage is laughable, reading 1/2 tank used in about 50 miles and reaching the 1/4
> full mark after 100 miles...then going through empty into the red during the final 200 miles I allow
> myself before searching out a filling station.
> Thanks, I bet I could have found this in the archives but I am on battery power with my laptop..I
> find the archives of the list very frustrating, so I am asking outright.
> Don Hanson
>
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